Once again, we will be presenting a program of science songs at the 2018 Cambridge Science Festival in April. This year's production will be a series of songs on the theme of biodiversity and will include songs about the five major extinction events, E.O. Wilson, each of the six biological kingdoms, types of biodiversity, and a mini-opera about a tree in the Amazon rain forest! For a sample of such a song, watch "Lake" by David Haines.

Web of Life will comprise about 20 songs by several contemporary composers, including David Haines, who has been featured prominently in many of our previous Science Festival Choruses, plus Bruce Lazarus, Graham Treacher and Lauren Mayer; as well as local composers Andrea Gaudette and Molly Ruggles. We will also sing a medley of songs composed by Cambridge Public School students under the direction of David Haines, as part of David's CPS Songwriting Workshops. The entire program will include an accompanying slideshow of song lyrics and children's artwork.

Rehearsals will be at the Peabody School, 70 Rindge Ave, Cambridge, starting at 6:15. You may register at either of the first two rehearsals, on January 24 and January 31. Weekly rehearsals will continue through April 11, with a Dress Rehearsal scheduled for April 13. Generally, we will start rehearsals with warmups and announcements from 6:15 to 6:30. Everyone will rehearse until 7:30 (at some rehearsals, we may have 20 to 30 minutes of separate rehearsing just for the kids), then younger children and their parents may leave. The rehearsal will continue for another 45 minutes (until about 8:15), during which we will work on some of the more challenging music. Most of the songs will be rehearsed during the 6:30-7:30 hour. A few songs will be performed by only those who stay for the later rehearsal. Many rehearsals will include a brief, accessible discussion of the science behind the songs.

Free Science and Music-Writing Program for Kids - Celebrating Science and Opera

North Cambridge Family Opera (NCFO) is joining forces with the Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) to offer a FREE 10-week opera-writing workshop for students in grades 2-5, led by BLO Teaching Artist Lydia Jane Graeff and NCFO composer and former CPS music teacher, Andrea Gaudette.

Students will create an 8-minute opera by researching the Amazon rainforest, and then writing their own story and music about it. They will perform the completed mini-opera with the NCFO Science Festival Chorus as part of the Cambridge Science Festival on April 15, 21, and 22 (on the school vacation weekends).

The workshops will be held on Sundays from 12:00 to 1:30 beginning January 21 at the Deborah Mason School of Dance in Somerville. Contact Andrea at gaudetteandrea@gmail.com.